year 10 ideals challenge week to Thailand. RISS - Renaissance International School Saigon. Offers from pre-school to secondary curriculum under the structure of the British system. Located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

1. The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
Volume 1, Issue 1 Spring 2011.
Renaissance International School Saigon in
Thailand.
Inside this issue:
Adventure 2 The Year 10 students
enjoy the first ever
Challenge 3 international field
trip for RISS in Thai-
land
Environment 4
Field Study 5
Internationalism 6
The Maekok River Vil- students from RISS to find out more about
lage Project (MRVP) visit the MRVP and the trip is from the
Service 7 has been in operation their week long trip students themselves
for eleven years and was a huge success, and I’m sure you will
Leadership 8 offers a range of activi- made possible by the enjoy reading about
ties for school trips in- excellent service pro- their experiences in
cluding subject specific vided by the staff in the following articles.
Special points of in-
fieldwork, out door ed- the resort and the
terest: ucation and communi- commitment and per-
ty service projects. The severance of our stu- Philip MacDonald-
 Loads of photos!
Year 10s were the first dents. The best way to Milner, Trip Leader
 Articles on our stay!
 Students explain!
Adventure and Service: Learning
 Learn about Archery and assisting at a local or-
Thailand! phanage
 The International
Award
 The IDEALS

2. Page 2 The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
The MRVR—Ban Thaton, Thailand.
The Maekok River Village Resort—Student The Restaurant at the resort
Centre
Trying Something New—Archery.
On the fourth day of the IDE-
ALS school trip to Thailand, we “ At first,
did archery as part of an activi-
everyone
ty. On that day, the weather
seemed not so
was terrible, we planned to do
good at archery,
rock climbing but we cancelled
but, with
because of the rain. Therefore,
practice they
we took to the gym after we fin-
ished mountain biking and improved. “
teamwork games.
It was my first time to do ar-
chery. When I saw it on TV, I
thought that I could do it well.
However, it was n’t easy, and I
could n’t do it well. It was hard
to shoot in the middle, or even
at the edge of the target.
However, I got better with prac-
tice and I had a very enjoyable At first, everyone seemed not so The first team who shot the
time, even if the weather was good at archery, but, with prac- balloon is becoming a winner.
really cold. tice they improved. Some stu- I really enjoyed it and I really
dents shoot to the middle of the want to do it again. It might
For the activity, we were sepa- circle and some students shoot to
rated into 4 groups with 3 peo- be the unforgettable memory
near the middle of the circle. At for me.
ple in each group. We tried 3 the end, we had a small competi-
times (3 arrows) for each person tion which is shooting balloon. Kim Ji Yeon

3. Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 3
Challenging Yourself—The Confidence Course.
On the third day of trip, we did ty rope. The safety rope was tion was also easy but when we
the confidence course. During joined with our body and the reach the fourth section, it was
the trip to Thailand, all of the top of the course obstacle. If we tough to go through. The fifth
students were looking forward made a false step, the rope will section was the hardest section
to this particular activity. The support our body. After we because when I walk, it swung
confidence course was installed learnt about safety, finally we a lot and I couldn’t balance
in the MRVR which we stayed could start. Of course the in- well. The last two sections were
for 5 days. There were 6 sec- structor showed us first how to just crossing. One of the stu-
tions of obstacles. do it. dents was tried but couldn’t go
Many of the students we re very The first section was very easy through all the sections because
anxious about the course, but and all of the student passed she was very scared. She
others were fine with it. Before that easily and fast. It was crossed the middle of the confi-
we started, we learnt about walking on the two stick and we dence course which is the short-
safety because it was the most have to balance. However the est and easier way to complete.
important part of the confidence second was not so easy for some All of the students enjoyed the
course. Many of the boys want- students, I remember that one course and found it very excit-
ed go first as they were very of the student fall out his leg to ing.
excited. the small hole and he had diffi- Mi Ran
First, we had to check the safe- culty to get up. The third sec-
Beautiful Northern Thailand.

4. Page 4 The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
Learning About The Environment.
Initially , we took a flight to took it then and threw it into
Bangkok and after that a flight the bin. There’s a little bit hu-
to Chiang Rai (northern of Thai- man activity so it does not af-
land). After that, we ate a lot, fect much on the environment.
but we tried not towaste any The next day, we planned to
food. Then we get to the resort camp but it’ was raining so we
by car., it’s in the countryside of cancelled it. Instead of camp-
Chiang Rai. On the way, I can ing, we hiked on a mountain.
see many traffic in the street, It’s a big mountain with fresh
it’s a busy city. But the more environment. Moreover, its qui-
further to the countryside, et and peaceful.
there’s less traffic, the environ-
ment is more fresh. The next day we went mountain
biking through the countryside.
The day after, we had field work
on the Mae Ai river. It has clean As you know, the villages are
water, a variety of plants and very clean, the locals can keep
fresh air. We saw some of the clean public environment.
litter on the river surface, we Nabi and Truc
The International Award.
Hello, everyone! I am going to ourselves. any special recipes to make
interview two girls who had food?
unique experiences during the Ye Rim: Before we go, I and
IDEALS trip in Thailand. They Ah Young studied with teach- Ah Young: Recipes? Ha Ha
are Ah Young and Ye Rim who ers how to use compass and We haven’t made food before
are doing Duke of Edinburgh. read a map. It was hard to un- ourselves. We just got materi-
Let’s talk with them!! derstand at first because nowa- als for food.
Interviewer: Hello, girls. How days, reading map and using
compass to hike are not usual Interviewer: How was it?
are you?
activities. Was it delicious?
Ah young & Ye Rim: Hello, I
am fine. Thanks. Interviewer: I agree with you.
Interviewer: I heard that you I also can not use compass and
guys had very memorable expe- map. What else did you do?
rience in Thailand. What was
it? Ye Rim: We made our meal by
Ah Young: We are doing inter- ourselves.
national award which is also Interviewer: Meals? How in-
know as the Duke of Edin- teresting! What did you make?
burgh’s Award. In Thailand,
we had chance to complete the Ye Rim: For dinner, we made
adventure section by hiking spaghetti and in the morning
the mountain and sleeping in- we ate Thai instant noodle.
side the tent that we put up by
Interviewer: Did you have

5. Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 5
Studying In The field (Or River!)
During the Thailand trip, as cially bad. When we reached to Unluckily, the digital flow me-
geography students, we had got the river, it was very beautiful. ter failed and we had to meas-
a great opportunity to approach The river flowed very rapidly ure the river speed using an
the Mae AI River which is par- and the shape of the river was orange. It is quite simple meth-
ticularly important for our Ge- very narrow. We started our od. We put an orange in the riv-
ography IGCSE final. Mr. Aus- investigations. First, we meas- er and measured the time until
tin introduced to us some gen- ured the velocity with digital it reached the finish point. Eve-
eral information about the field- flow meter. It was very easy to ryone was focused on the or-
work. Unfortunately, the get the flow velocity of the riv- ange whilst it surfed the river!
weather was quite bad; the sky er. And then we observed and
was filled with dark clouds and recorded the bed loads (stones).
temperature was very low. The After that we measured the After finishing site 2, the heavy
truck that we used to move was width and depth of the river. It rain came, so we couldn’t inves-
really unique. While we on the was simpler than we thought. tigate site 3. Unfortunately,
road, we saw the phenomenal After that, we moved to the site most of the students didn’t have
Thai landscape in tht back of 2. their own umbrella at that
the truck. Enjoying the fresh time, so they got wet. It was
air was fantastic. It was a real quite interesting experience for
experience for us. When we arrived at site 2, it us and learnt a lot of geogra-
wasn’t like site 1 as the path phy!
was quite wide, neither slippery
To reach the river, the path was nor dangerous. When we got
quite dangerous and slippery there, we did the same meas- Seong Jae and Eddie
and a few students fell down urements that we did at site 1
several times-site 1 was espe- in order to do the comparison.
Geography students all undertook ele-
ments of fieldwork upon the trip which in-
cluded some rather wet river studies
“Unfortunately, the
weather was quite bad; the
sky was filled with dark
clouds and temperature
was very low. “

6. Page 6 The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
Demonstrating International Mindedness.
We met each other at Tan Son We studied some Thai words, creams and beverages was im-
Nhat airport and Mr. Charlie for examples:” Sawadee Kaa” pressive with its decoration.
gave us the IDEALS booklets. (hello) and “Kob Kun Man” The days at the resort were
Then we took the morning (thank you). Thai food was very unforgettable.
flight to Chiang Rai Interna- tasty, and somewhat similar The last day of the trip, we vis-
tional Airport (CEI). Later, we to Vietnamese food. However, ited the temples. Thai temples
went on the vans to our resort. some of them are more spicy are very luxurious and beauti-
We were very tired but the at- and salty. We mostly ate rice, ful. The buildings were elabo-
mosphere at the Maekok Ai curry, soup like Vietnamese rately constructed. We spent a
River resort impressed us. Liv- food. wonderful time there to learn
ing there was fantastic because During the trip, we met the more about Thai civilians’ be-
we had a chance to meet not resort staff who are from vari- liefs in their religion and enjoy
only Western people but also ous nationalities and we joined the clear atmosphere. We also
Thai people. We got on well the activities with them like took lots of photos with our
and shared everything with stick games, Olympic games friends and teachers.
them. We realized that they and basketball. Also, the Bam-
were so friendly and helpful. Lisa and Uyen
boo club where we bought ice
Being Adventurous
Through Mountain
Biking.
We arrived at the meeting The further we went into the Through team building ac-
place to decide which group go countryside the more mud on tivities, students bonded
biking or enjoy team work ac- road cause of heavy rain.
with others from different
tivities because there are not It had many potholes on the cultures and backgrounds.
enough bikes for all of us. road so it hurt us when we
Luckily I’m in the first group went over it. The instructors
which went for mountain bik- wanted us to be safe so they
ing. The instructors let us made us go in one line in a
choose our bikes and we were constant speed. I and my
ready to rock!. Because of the friend had a race that was re-
bad weather we had to wear ally fun and there were many
rain coat and many shirts. trucks so we aren’t going fast
They rent a taxi which guided as much as we could. We are
us during the trip.. I really arrived back at the same time
enjoy the sightseeing on the in the resort.
road and understand more I learnt loads of things
about the life of the local peo- through the activity; we learnt
ple. It is really cold and mud- how to overcome the challeng-
dy so not everyone could easi- es and teamwork.
ly pass through.
Khoa

7. Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 7
The Environment—How Healthy Is It?
We had some field work for both tures which were found at this
Biology and Geography classes. location, because the water here
We had to go to the three loca- still quite clean. After that, we
tions. At the first location, we had went towards the third location.
to clam up the mountain because Here, it was very dirty and
it’s the top, where the river start- smelly. We went back to the
ed and we were looking for crea- camp and had a shower because
tures which live in the fresh wa- we were all got wet (it rained all
ter. Then, we continued going to day long). We had dinner and
the second location which was congregated at the gym for
further down the river’s course games to finish the day. Recording biodiversity in
and we stopped to have our different river locations.
lunch. We also found some crea- Phuong and Vu
Providing Service and Developing
Compassion.
On the last day, we visited a local was the most fun activity of the
Thai school nearby the centre. school trip. We hope that we have
It’s a orphanage school. Before we a chance to meet them again “We believe that this
went to the orphanage, we decid- soon. experience was the
ed what will we do with them. We most fun activity of
were able to use materials such the school trip. “
as hoops, balls , etc inside the Ye Lim and Sony
centre. We had about 5 or 4
groups of 3 to 4 people. The su-
pervisors helped us communicate
with them since we don’t speak
Thai and they were very friendly.
Some of us played basketball,
some decided to play Kore-
an/Vietnamese traditional games.
Even though it was hard to trans-
late from English to Thai (there
were only two translators) we
were happy to play games with
them. Also, we were proud of our-
selves by helping young people
who need love and care from the
others. We learnt about the need
of these services which is about
looking after the weak and poor.
Service for others exemplified through our orphanage visit is an
area where the school is looking to progress.
We believe that this experience

8. Leadership And Responding To Pressure.
We think the trekking was the trek. Our trainers got so wet
most difficult but most memo- and our hands were shaking
rable part of our trip. Even due to rainy and cold condition.
though I’ve hiked several We were glad that we wore wa-
mountains, it was not compa- terproof rain coats and trou-
rable to the one we’ve experi- sers. At the end of the trek, we
enced before. The weather were glad that there has some-
when we were trekking was where warming warm to go
extremely bad as it rained all and we didn’t freeze like ani-
day. The trekking route was mals during the ice age! While
very challenging. The pathway we were trekking we was just
was so narrow and rocky that thinking about the finishing
just one person could go pass point and anything to keep us “We think the trekking was
and the road was slippery and warm. The finishing point the most difficult but most
muddy because of the rain. We made us very happy!
memorable part of our trip.”
saw several people slipping Won Hyuk and Jung Hoon
down including me during the
What Is It Like On A Residential?
The resort which we stayed was Also, there were three beds in doing that, we were scared
the Maekok river Village resort each side but because only four about it, However, after doing
in Thailand. At first, since it students stayed in a room, two that, we gained confidence. And
was too rural, we did not expect beds were left. Every night dur- we gathered at the gym before
a lot. But when we arrived at ing the Thailand trip, we came going somewhere and listened
there, we were pleased . The together at the room and chat- about the activity. When we
restaurant was separated with ted into the night. It was really could not do anything due to
the resort and it was also good interesting and we could be- the weather, we played in the
and the food was delicious. We came more friendly with each gym. There was a swimming
stayed four nights at the resort other. Accordingly, we could pool in front of the gym. Alt-
.There was a room which we share our room with Vietnam- hough we could not play at
heard about biology and geogra- ese and Korean students and it there, we could always see it
phy activities, and a table ten- was really interesting and made while we were passing it.
nis room which we could play us more internationally aware. There was a net in the swim-
the tennis table whenever we Many boys were playing the ming pool. I think that was for
wanted to do. So Every night, basketball at night. There was some games which could play in
we went to the table tennis a gym in the resort. Also there the water.
room and played. were lots of things what we Jeong Eon
Where I and my mates slept could play such as archery and
and took a rest were comforta- playing basketball. There
ble and nice rooms. There were was a confidence course and
two bathrooms so we could use one night during the Thai-
them without inconvenience. land trip, we did it. Before
From Mr. Charlie….
I would finally like to say how pleased I was to attend this
trip and work with everyone involved. This is a premier trip
and a fantastic experience for all the students involved to de-
velop the IDEALS. Long may this trip continue on an annual
basis for all future Year 10s.